Technology, Science, and Innovation: Institutions and Governance
PUBP-820
Fall, 2015
Professor David M. Hart
School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs
George Mason University
Times, Places, and Contact Information
Class meetings: Wednesdays, 4:30-7:10 p.m., Founders Hall TBA
Office hours: Wednesdays, 2-4 pm or by appointment
Office location: Founders Hall 609
Email (preferred): dhart@gmu.edu
Office phone (if necessary): 703-993-2279
Learning Outcomes
New technologies present extraordinary opportunities for achieving major public policy
objectives, such as economic growth, environmental sustainability, public health, international
security, and the advancement of knowledge. Yet, they may also place the very same objectives
in jeopardy. Whether the public benefits from technological innovation depends on how well the
innovation process is governed.
This course acquaints doctoral students with what social scientists know about technological
innovation and its governance. By “governance” I mean the influence exerted by cultural and
economic institutions as well as by public policies on the technical and scientific communities
that are the immediate sources of new technologies. While technology and science are
themselves institutional complexes that have substantial “internal” momentum, they are
constantly interacting with these “external” institutions. These interactions can be
conceptualized at multiple temporal (years, decades, centuries, etc.) and geographical scales
(regional, national, supranational, and global).
We will engage with classic works that introduced essential concepts in this field of inquiry and
explore recent developments in the state-of-the-art. The course’s purposes are to hone the
student’s ability to engage critically with challenging texts (and express herself in this regard)
and to identify promising fields and questions for dissertation research.
Participants
PUBP-820 welcomes all SPGIA doctoral students and aims to support their progress toward field
exams and dissertation proposals. The course is open to students enrolled in other programs as
well, if they have a deep interest in and appropriate background for it, space permitting and
subject to the instructor’s approval.
Course Texts and Materials
Course readings will be made available through the course Blackboard website or through open
source files linked to this syllabus.
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Format
Each class meeting will have two distinct components. The first half of the class will revolve
around short papers prepared by the students, as described below, that focus on concepts
introduced in the previous week. The second half will be composed primarily of a lecture that
lays out core concepts, building on the readings and augmented by clarifying and critical
discussion among all participants.
Assignments and Grading
Each student will prepare five essays of approximately 1500 words each. The class will be
divided into two groups, each writing an essay every other week on a staggered basis, so that
approximately half of the students will have an essay to share each week. The essays will not
require research, but rather will be critical assessments of theoretical concepts, evidence offered
by the readings, and related scholarly questions. Detailed guidance for these essays will be
provided in the first class. The essays will be weighed equally in the semester grade.
Participation
This class depends vitally on preparation and active participation. No formal weight in the
semester grade will be assigned to participation, but failure to participate adequately will result
in lowering of assignment grades. Students in risk of this penalty will be given adequate notice
and generous opportunity to avoid it.
Students with Special Needs
If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodation, please see the
instructor and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 993-2474. All academic
accommodations must be arranged through the DRC.
Read the plagiarism policy attached to the end of this syllabus. Ignorance of or failure to
understand the policy will not lead to lenience in case of violation.
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Reading List
I. Technology, Science, and Innovation: The Inner Workings
1. Technology, Science, and Innovation: Autonomy, Momentum, and Control
September 2
 Bill Joy, “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us,” Wired, April 2000.
 Kevin Kelly, “Choosing the Inevitable,” ch. 9 in What Technology Wants (Viking, 2010), pp.
175-188.
 Alvin M. Weinberg, "Can Technology Replace Social Engineering?,” Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists 22:12 (December 1966): 4-8.
 Amory B. Lovins, “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken,” Foreign Affairs 55(1):65-96
(1976).
 Unruh, Gregory C., “Escaping Carbon Lock-In," Energy Policy 30:317-325 (2002).
2. Science: Norms and Other Incentives
September 9
 Robert K. Merton, “The Normative Structure of Science,” (1942) in Merton, Sociology of
Science (University of Chicago Press, 1973).
 Michael Mulkay, “The Mediating Role of the Scientific Elite,” Social Studies of Science 6(34):445-470 (September 1976).
 Daniel J. Kevles, “Cold War and Hot Physics: Science, Security, and the American State,
1945-1956,” Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 20:239-264 (1990).
 Henry Etzkowitz, “The Norms of Entrepreneurial Science: Cognitive Effects of the New
University–Industry Linkages,” Research Policy 27(8):823-833 (December 1998).
 Sanjay Jain, Gerard George, and Mark Maltarich, “Academics or Entrepreneurs?
Investigating Role Identity Modification of University Scientists Involved in
Commercialization Activity,” Research Policy 38:922–935 (2009).
3. Technology and Innovation: From Invention to Use
September 16
 Stephen J. Kline, “Innovation Is Not a Linear Process,” Research Management, July/August
1985, 36-45.
 Philip Anderson and Michael Tushman, “Technological Discontinuities and Dominant
Designs: A Cyclical Model of Technological Change,” Administrative Science Quarterly
35:604-633 (December 1990).
 Mike Hobday, “Product Complexity, Innovation and Industrial Organisation,” Research
Policy 26:689-710 (1998).
 Paul David, “The Dynamo and the Computer: An Historical Perspective on the Modern
Productivity Paradox,” American Economic Review 80(2):355-361 (May 1990).
 Bronwyn Hall, “Innovation and Diffusion,” National Bureau of Economic Research working
paper 10212, January 2004.
.
September 23: NO CLASS (YOM KIPPUR)
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II. “Background” Governance Institutions
4. Firms and Markets
September 30
 Joseph A. Schumpeter, “Plausible Capitalism” and “The Process of Creative Destruction,”
chapters 6-7 in Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (Harper, 1942), 72-86.
 Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., “Evolution of the Large Scale Corporation: An Evolution of the
Transaction Cost Approach,” paper presented to the Business History Conference, 1982.
 David J. Teece, “Profiting From Technological Innovation,” Research Policy 15: 285-305
(1986).
 Walter W. Powell, “Learning from Collaboration: Knowledge and Networks in the
Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries,” California Management Review 40:228240 (1998).
 Eric von Hippel and Georg von Krogh, “Open Source Software and the “Private-Collective”
Innovation Model: Issues for Organization Science,” Organization Science 14:209-223
(2003).
5. Intellectual Property
October 7
 Naomi R. Lamoreaux and Kenneth L. Sokoloff, “Long-term Change in the Organization of
Inventive Activity,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 93:12686-12692 (12
November 1996).
 Robert Merges and Richard R. Nelson, “On Limiting or Encouraging Rivalry in Technical
Progress: The Effect of Patent-Scope Decisions,” Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization 25:1-24 (1994).
 Dosi, Giovanni, L. Marengo, and C. Pasquali, “How Much Should Society Fuel the Greed of
Innovators,” Research Policy 35:1110-1121 (2006).
 Ashish Arora, Andrea Fosfuri and Alfonso Gambardella, “Markets for Technology in the
Knowledge Economy,” International Social Science Journal 54:115-128 (2002),
 Andrei Hagiu and David B. Yoffie, “The New Patent Intermediaries: Platforms, Defensive
Aggregators, and Super-Aggregators,” Journal of Economic Perspectives vol. 27, no. 1, pp.
45-66 (Winter 2013).
6. Financial Institutions
October 14
 Ragu Rajan and Luigi Zingales, “Financial Systems, Industrial Structure, and Growth,”
Oxford Review of Economic Policy 17:467-482 (2001).
 Martin Kenney, “How Venture Capital Became a Component of the US National System of
Innovation,” Industrial and Corporate Change 20:1677-1723 (2011).
 William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda, “Financing Innovation,” National Bureau of Economic
Research working paper no. 20676, November 2014.
 Guy Ben-Ari and Nicholas S. Vonortas, “Risk Financing for Knowledge-Based Enterprises:
Mechanisms and Policy Options,” Science and Public Policy 34:475-488 (2007).
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
Elisabeth B. Reynolds, Hiram Samel and Joyce Lawrence, “Learning by Building:
Complementary Assets and the Migration of Capabilities in U.S. Innovation Firms,” MIT
Industrial Performance Center working paper 13-001, January, 2013.
7. Culture
October 21
 Douglass C. North, “Economic Performance Through Time,” American Economic Review
84(3):359-368 (1994).
 Jared Diamond, “Why Did the Vikings Vanish?,” New York Review of Books, April 11, 2002.
 Joel Mokyr, “Entrepreneurship and the Industrial Revolution in Britain,” in David S. Landes,
Joel Mokyr, and William J. Baumol, eds., The Invention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship
from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times (Princeton, 2010), pp. 183-210.
 Mark Elam, “National Imagination and Systems of Innovation,” in Charles Edquist, ed.,
Systems of Innovation (Pinter, 1997), pp. 159-173.
 David M. Hart, “Understanding Immigration in a National Systems of Innovation
Framework,” Science and Public Policy 34:45-53 (2007).
III. National Innovation Systems, Public Policy, and National Goals
8. Economic Prosperity
October 28
 Adam B. Jaffe, “Measurement Issues” in Lewis M. Branscomb and James H. Keller, eds.,
Investing in Innovation (MIT Press, 1998), pp. 64-84.
 Moses Abramovitz, “Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind,” Journal of
Economic History 46:385-406 (1986).
 Aleksander Gerschenkron, “Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective” ch. 1 in ibid.
(Belknap, 1962).
 Jan Fagerberg and Martin Srholec, “National Innovation Systems, Capabilities, and
Economic Development,” Research Policy 37:1417-1435 (2008).
 Wan-Wen Chu, “How the Chinese Government Promoted a Global Automobile Industry,”
Industrial and Corporate Change 20:1235-1276 (2011).
 Zheng Wan, Daniel Sperling, and Yunshi Wang, “China’s Electric Car Frustrations,”
Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 34:116–121 (2015).
9. Health and Well-Being
November 4
 Susan E Cozzens, “Quality of Life Returns from Basic Research,” Health Research Policy
and Systems 2010, 8:18 (13 pp.)
 Andrew A. Toole, “The Impact of Basic Research on Industrial Innovation: Evidence from
the Pharmaceutical Industry,” Research Policy 41:1-12 (2012).
 Iain Cockburn, Rebecca Henderson, Luigi Orsenigo, and Gary Pisano, “Pharmaceuticals and
Biotechnology,” in U.S. Industry in 2000 (National Academies Press, 2001), pp. 363-398.
 Bhaven Sampat and Michael Drummond, “Another Special Relationship? Interactions
between Health Technology Policies and Health Care Systems in the United States and the
United Kingdom,” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 36:119-139 (2011).
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
Aaron S. Kesselheim, “An Empirical Review of Major Legislation Affecting Drug
Development: Past Experiences, Effects, and Unintended Consequences,” Milbank Quarterly
89:450–502 (2011).
10. National Security
November 11
 David C. Mowery, “National Security and National Innovation Systems,” Journal of
Technology Transfer 34:455-473 (2009).
 John A. Alic, “Managing U.S. Defense Acquisition,” Enterprise and Society 14:1-36 (2013).
 Manuel Trajtenberg, “Defense R&D in the Anti-Terrorist Era,” Defence and Peace
Economics 17(3):177–199 (2006).
 Erica Fuchs, “Rethinking the Role of the State in Technology Development: DARPA and
the Case for Embedded Network Governance,” Research Policy 39:1133-1147 (2010).
 P. W. Singer, “Military Robotics and Ethics: A World of Killer Apps,” Nature 477:399–401
(22 September 2011).
IV. The Emerging Global Innovation System and Global Public Policy Goals
11. Low-Carbon Energy
November 18
 S. Pacala,and R. Socolow, “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next
50 Years with Current Technologies,” Science 305:968-972 (13 August 2004).
 Steven J Davis, Long Cao, Ken Caldeira, and Martin I Hoffert, “Rethinking Wedges,”
Environmental Research Letters (2013) (8pp) doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/011001
 Björn A. Sandén and Christian Azar, “Near-Term Technology Policies for Long-Term
Climate Targets—Economy Wide versus Technology Specific Approaches,” Energy Policy
33:1557-1576 (2005).
 Thomas Hale and Johannes Urpelainen, “When and How Can Unilateral Policies Promote
the International Diffusion of Environmental Policies and Clean Technology?,” Journal of
Theoretical Politics 27:177–205 (2015).
 Joern Huenteler, Tobias S. Schmidt, Jan Ossenbrink, and Volker H. Hoffmann, “Technology
Life-Cycles in the Energy Sector – Technological Characteristics and the Role of
Deployment for Innovation,” SSRN 2566463, February 2015.
 Charlie Wilson, Arnulf Grubler, Kelly S. Gallagher, and Gregory F. Nemet, “Marginalization
of End-Use Technologies in Energy Innovation for Climate Protection,” Nature Climate
Change 2:780-788 (November 2012).
12. Inclusive Innovation
December 2
 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “Innovation for Development:
The Challenges Ahead,” in STI Outlook 2012 (OECD, 2013), pp. 115-142
 Raphael Kaplinsky, “Bottom of the Pyramid Innovation and Pro-Poor Growth,” in Making
Innovation Policy Work: Learning from Experimentation (OECD, 2014), pp. 49-70.
 Theo Papaioannou, How Inclusive Can Innovation and Development Be in the Twenty-First
Century?,” Innovation and Development 4:187–202 (2014)
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

Don Tapscott, “Introducing Global Solution Networks: Understanding the New MultiStakeholder Models for Global Cooperation, Problem Solving and Governance,”
Innovations, Winter-Spring 2014, pp.3–46.
Jeffrey D. Sachs. “From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development
Goals,” Lancet 379:2206-11 (9 June 2012).
13. Wrap Up
December 9
 Ben R. Martin, “Twenty Challenges for Innovation Studies,” draft of February 2015.
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SPGIA Policy on Plagiarism
The profession of scholarship and the intellectual life of a university, as well as the field of
public policy inquiry, depend fundamentally on a foundation of trust. Thus, any act of plagiarism
strikes at the heart of the meaning of the University and the purpose of the School of Policy,
Government and International Affairs. It constitutes a serious breach of professional ethics and it
is unacceptable. Plagiarism is the use of another’s words or ideas presented as one’s own. It
includes, among other things, the use of specific words, ideas, or frameworks that are the product
of another’s work. Honesty and thoroughness in citing sources is essential to professional
accountability and personal responsibility. Appropriate citation is necessary so that arguments,
evidence, and claims can be critically examined.
Plagiarism is wrong because of the injustice it does to the person whose ideas are stolen. It is
also wrong because it constitutes lying to one’s professional colleagues. From a prudential
perspective, it is shortsighted and self-defeating, and it can ruin a professional career.
The faculty of the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs takes plagiarism
seriously and has adopted a zero tolerance policy. This may lead to failure for the course,
resulting in termination from the program and possible termination from SPGIA. This
termination will be noted on the student’s transcript. For foreign students who are on a
university-sponsored visa (eg. F-1, J-1 or J-2), termination also results in the revocation of their
visa.
To help enforce the SPGIA policy on plagiarism, all written work submitted in partial fulfillment
of course or degree requirements must be available in electronic form so that it can be compared
with electronic databases, as well as submitted to commercial services to which the School
subscribes. Faculty may at any time submit a student’s work without prior permission from the
student. Individual instructors may require that written work be submitted in electronic as well as
printed form. The SPGIA policy on plagiarism is supplementary to the George Mason University
Honor Code; it is not intended to replace it or substitute for it.
(http://policy.gmu.edu/honorcode )
Professor Hart’s Addendum
I believe deeply that intellectual integrity is a fundamental element of learning. I firmly support
the School’s zero tolerance policy on plagiarism and will enforce it stringently. Ignorance is not
an excuse. To avoid plagiarism, a simple rule of thumb may be of help: when in doubt, include
a citation. Citations, including those to web sources, should include sufficient information to
allow a reader to verify the source. Further details on when and how to cite sources will be
discussed in class. However, providing a citation to a block of text taken with minimal change
from a source is not sufficient to avoid plagiarism. You must put the block in quotation marks,
thereby acknowledging the source’s contribution of specific words as well as ideas in the block.
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